With his star ball carrier standing a few feet away, nursing a
minor shoulder injury while the rest of the Sobrato High School
football team prepped Wednesday for a full-contact scrimmage
against Leland, SHS offensive coordinator Rick Dukes was asked to
discuss some of his strategies for the 2011 season
With his star ball carrier standing a few feet away, nursing a minor shoulder injury while the rest of the Sobrato High School football team prepped Wednesday for a full-contact scrimmage against Leland, SHS offensive coordinator Rick Dukes was asked to discuss some of his strategies for the 2011 season.
The timing could not have been worse, or more apropos. Because even as Obi Mbonu lurked behind the scenes at this week’s Competitive Edge Camp at Leland High School, looking as peerless as ever in civilian clothes, the Bulldogs offense stood out during the three-day camp, which included 2010 Central Coast Section playoff powers Sequoia, Leland and Santa Teresa.
Sobrato’s wing-T attack hardly lost a step with the combined talent of veteran running backs Derrick Taylor, Drew Glines and Mbonu’s understudies, Tyler Lerma and Zach Zhang, plus an improved passing attack led by quarterback Jerry Jacob and receiver Steven Villarreal.
“It’s not necessarily going to be the Obi Show this year,” Dukes said, though, he is thrilled to have his 1,000-yard rusher coming back soon. “My philosophy is we’re going to take what they give us. So if that means they all want to gang up on Obi, that’s bad for him but good for us because someone else is going to have a big game. I don’t really care how we move the ball as long as we’re moving it.”
Dukes’ unit did so in spades Wednesday against a Leland team still stinging from last year’s 35-34 upset at Sobrato in Week 1. It was the most anticipated scrimmage of the camp.
“It’s becoming an interesting, fun rivalry,” Leland coach Mike Carrozzo said. “We’re two programs that battled last year. They got the better of us. That stuff sticks in the kids’ heads a little. They have a lot of respect for each other, and so do the coaches.
“It’s going to be nice having next year’s game at (Leland’s Pat) Tillman Stadium.”
The Bulldogs kept their emotion in check and held their own, reaching the end zone in three of their five offensive series to even the final score at three touchdowns apiece. The Chargers looked slightly better overall, led by Division I prospects Chris Santini (fullback/linebacker) and Jason Habash (quarterback).
“Things went the way you would expect with their strengths and our strengths, and their weaknesses and our weaknesses,” SHS coach Nick Borello said. “They weren’t the best at pass defense, but they’re really good at run defense. Our strength is running, but we have a quarterback and a receiver who are very good together. We can pass when we have protection, which is the hard part.”
That was not the case Wednesday, even against an inspired Leland defense and with an offensive line that is breaking in new tackles. Jacob was untouched in the pocket. He completed four-of-five passing — each one caught by Villarreal — for 86 yards, including a 21-yard play-action fade for a touchdown and a 29-yard slant Villarreal went up to catch in traffic over the middle.
“There were no dropped balls or incompletions between me and Jerry,” the 5-foot-10 Villarreal said. “When it comes down to us, if we need to throw the ball, I’ll always come down with it.”
There was no cockiness in his tone; just the confidence built up from last season, when Jacob and Villarreal excelled together as juniors in their first varsity season. The two worked well naturally from Day 1.
“We had a lot of confidence in each other, so it made starting on varsity a lot easier,” Villarreal said.
“We’ve both gotten a lot better,” added Jacob, a capable passer who at 5-feet-10, 170 pounds is also a force running the option. “Steven’s cuts are seriously good. His hands are just … he’s been doing a lot of workouts and drills and can just catch anything now. I’ve always trusted him, though.”
Between practices this offseason, Jacob has attended camps with some of the area’s top quarterbacks.
“Jerry’s arm strength is definitely a lot stronger,” Dukes said. “His accuracy is getting better, too. He’s still not as consistent as I would like him to be, but he’s more consistent to the point where we’re fine mixing in more passing this year.
“Our concept of run, run, run makes things easier for him. That leaves Steven wide open; he’s going to get single coverage. Who’s going to put two guys on him and defend our run with nine guys? No one.”
Sobrato’s defense had its own problems against Leland, but the Bulldogs have plenty of time to sharpen up in practice against their own fine-tuned offense. They have Glines and Taylor to work with; both of whom on Wednesday were quick to the outside, strong up the middle and dangerous in open space. Then there’s Jacob and Villarreal.
And, yes, Mbonu. Who could forget?
“We’ll be a true four-back attack this year,” Dukes said. “A coach from another team told me, ‘You’re fun to watch. Do you throw the ball?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we throw maybe 20 percent of the time.’ And he said, ‘Man, you guys could be dangerous.'”
